


Bats In Arms

by Browniesarethebest



Series: Reverse Batfamily [14]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Damian Wayne Hates Everyone but Bruce and Alfred, Gen, I redo Return of the Joker basically, Possessive Damian Wayne, Tim Drake's origin story, Tumblr Prompt, for now, reverse batfamily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24558157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Browniesarethebest/pseuds/Browniesarethebest
Summary: Tumblr Prompt: Hey I love your reverse batfamily fics! Can you possibly write one about Tim and Damian?! Some angst with a happy ending? Great work!Alternate Title: In Which Tim Drake Becomes A Homewrecker
Relationships: Tim Drake & Damian Wayne
Series: Reverse Batfamily [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/715839
Comments: 6
Kudos: 115





	Bats In Arms

**Author's Note:**

> Who knew not including Dick would make this so much harder to write?

When Drake first came to the Manor, Damian was furious.

It was bad enough that Father was letting some back-alley harlot masquerade as one of his partners, but to actually allow some new child into their home? Without consulting Damian?

_Was he not enough?_

Damian immediately disregarded that thought. Of course he was enough. He was the perfect son, a master of multiple fighting styles, and a damn good detective. He was the perfect partner to the Batman—no one else was needed.

This _child_ had no apparent skills (besides figuring out who Batman and Shadowbat were, but the 21-year-old was ignoring that), despite being just slightly older than Damian was when he arrived at the Manor. He was small and thin and could not look Damian in the eyes for more than 3 seconds before looking away in fear. He was completely untrained and unfit to be part of their lives. The boy’s only redeeming factor was that he did not speak unless prompted by Father.

But time passed, and Drake grew more comfortable—more confident. He chattered. He interrupted. He and the harlot encouraged each other, especially when it came to annoying Damian.

The boy was ruining the dynamic between Father and him. Quiet nights in the study reading were now spent in the living room watching movies, though Damian never joined. Quiet nights in the Cave solving the latest case were now noisy nights filled with incessant chatter that gave Damian a migraine.

Damian ignored the insight the boy sometimes had. He would never be a better detective than Damian and his father.

And now that the boy was comfortable, he continuously attempted to spend time with Damian. He tried to get Damian to go _skateboarding_ of all things. He intruded during Damian’s meditations. During his reading. During his sketching.

One day, Damian finally snapped. It had been a rough night with trying to track down the Joker. He and Batman had split up to save time on checking out potential locations, but the child had been left with Damian, much to his rage. At least the blonde had gone with Batman. He never would have been able to deal with them both alone.

But Drake would _not. Shut. Up_. After enduring this for 15 minutes in what should have been a silent stakeout, Damian whirled around, cutting the boy off.

“You may have deceived my father into believing you could _ever_ be worthy of working with us, let alone hold the title of a Bat—” What kind of name was Kid Bat anyway? It sounded ridiculous in Damian’s opinion. “—but I know better. You are _weak_. You will never be good enough to be one of us. Even Brown has more potential than you, and she’s nothing more than some back-alley broad.”

Damian’s chest heaved, clenching his fists as he finished. Drake flinched, and Damian could imagine the tears building behind the mask. The boy bowed his head, shaking.

“Y-You’re right,” he whispered. “I’ll never be one of you.”

Drake fled, leaping from building to building until Damian couldn’t see him anymore. Good. He turned around and continued his stakeout.

After a few hours, Damian called it a bust. Batman chimed in a moment later over comms and said the same about his location. Damian stood and stretched. He figured he should go find Drake now—the boy had obviously not gone to his father, or he would have heard about it. He was sure Drake would tell his father what he had said tonight, but Damian would weather it like always. Father should have known better than to leave the brat with him.

* * *

Drake was missing.

Damian didn’t expect to feel minor guilt with that statement, but he tamped it down. It wasn’t his fault that Drake was missing. The boy had gone off on his own in Gotham. He could even blame Batman for giving the boy the costume in the first place. None of this would have happened if Father had left well enough alone.

They knew Drake was with Joker and Harley—the jack-in-a-box discovered by Batgirl had told them that. It was just a matter of finding the boy.

Damian knew that Father and Brown blamed him, though Batman never said as much. Brown had no reservations, however, and loudly proclaimed his guilt whenever he was within earshot. He was at the breaking point during her latest rant when she suddenly went silent.

“I see Harley. Following her now. I’m heading down Robinson Avenue.”

Batman and Shadowbat took off from their locations. As they grew closer, they could hear Batgirl telling them everything she saw.

“She’s gone into Laughing Larry’s Toy Factory. Heading in now.”

Silence. Damian was almost there.

“Holy fuck.”

“Batgirl?” Batman asked.

“They’re...fuck, they’re—Kid Bat!”

“Goddammit, Brown!” Damian snarled. “Wait for backup!” 

The toy factory was in his sight. Out of the corner of his eye, Damian saw Batman swing in. Damian followed him, slinking into the building.

“You bastards!” Stephanie screamed over the comm. Damian winced and turned it off. It wouldn’t do to be distracted—or lose his hearing.

The sounds of fighting drew the duo to a set of double doors. Before they could go in, they burst open, Batgirl flying through and crumpling to the ground at their feet.

“Batman! So glad you can join us!” They looked up. The light behind Joker cast him in shadows, the only truly visible thing being his sickly grin. “Harley, dear, won’t you give the sidekick a warm welcome to our home?”

“On it, Mistah J!” Harley flipped into the room, aiming a kick at Shadowbat. He easily blocked and threw her at the wall. She merely kicked off of it and flew back at him.

During their fight, Batman engaged the Joker. Damian knew that fight would be much more difficult, so he did his best to incapacitate Joker’s sidekick as quickly as possible. It was fairly easy—his training with his mother and grandfather far superior to Harley’s own skill. Just as he knocked her out with a punch to the head, he heard Batgirl come to with a moan. He made his way over to her and begrudgingly helped her up. Her face was bloody, and her costume was littered with bloody cuts, but she didn’t seem to care as she desperately clung to Damian’s suit.

“Shadowbat—” she gasped, “—Kid Bat, he’s—”

“Show me.” 

Brown led him threw the double doors into the main room of the factory. She moved towards a curtain-off area in the corner, and Damian could hear whimpers and giggles coming from it. His trepidation grew.

“I-I think we made it in time. He’s definitely going to be fucked up for a while, but if they were doing what I think they were doing...we made it in time.”

She drew back the curtain, and Damian clenched his teeth. Drake was strapped down to an operating table, electrodes stuck to his temples. Metal clamps were attached to the table, attached to a machine that sat next to a small table filled with syringes and various other surgical tools. 

Damian felt sick.

Together, he and Batgirl disconnected the electrodes from the boy’s head and unstrapped him. Brown gathered Drake into her arms, but at her touch, the boy wrenched himself back and fell over the side of the table. His giggles increased in volume.

“Kid Bat?” Stephanie hesitantly stepped around the tabled and whispered, “Tim?”

Rounding the table, Damian found Drake writhing on the floor, a grin stretched painfully from ear to ear. Ignoring his feelings, he knelt down and pulled out the Joker venom cure to inject into the boy’s neck. He quieted down for a moment before his cackles started up again even louder than before.

“We need to get him back to the Cave,” Damian said. He looked at Batgirl. “Take him back on my bike. I’ll help Batman with the Joker.”

“But—”

Damian growled, “Do you wanna help him or not?”

Batgirl glanced back down at Kid Bat before nodding and lifting the boy into her arms. She looked into Damian’s eyes, determined. “Make that bastard pay.”

Damian nodded, “We will.”

Brown ran off. Shadowbat took a deep breath and clenched his fists until they hurt. He turned around, his expression cold.

It was time to show the Joker that no one messed with the Bats.

* * *

The weeks went by slowly as Drake healed. Thankfully, they rescued him before the grin could turn permanent or leave scars. His giggling and cackling also died down once Batman and him found a cure for the specific strain of venom Joker had used.

Drake was quiet again. Though the returned peace was nice, Damian was once again feeling unfamiliar emotions. He didn’t like them, so he ignored them. They usually went away after some time had passed, and Damian would feel fine again.

After more time passed, Drake started acting like his more upbeat self again. Damian missed the silence, but he admitted (only to himself) that he felt relief. Though he still felt some disdain for Drake’s intrusion into his family, he was still a hero, and he didn’t like seeing any child in pain (except maybe Baby Doll, but she didn’t count).

Damian and Drake would never be friends, but that didn’t mean Damian wouldn’t watch out for him. They were Bats, and that’s what Bats did for each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to send me requests or talk to me at browniesarethebest.tumblr.com!


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